Texas A&M Professor and NASA Researcher Zhengdong Cheng Arrested for Alleged China Ties

Texas A&M professor and NASA researcher Zhengdong Cheng was arrested Sunday for alleged conspiracy, false statements, and wire fraud.

According to a United States Department of Justice press release, Cheng allegedly “willfully took steps to obscure his affiliations and collaboration with a Chinese University and at least one Chinese-owned company.”

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Comey Says He ‘Can’t Imagine’ He’s a Target of Durham Probe

Former FBI Director James Comey said Sunday that he has not had contact with the federal prosecutor investigating the bureau’s probe of the Trump campaign, but that he “can’t imagine” that he’s a target of a criminal inquiry.

“Given that I know what happened during 2016, which was a bunch of people trying to do the right thing consistent with the law, I’m not worried at all about that investigation of the investigation,” Comey said in an interview Sunday on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

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Coalition Files Lawsuits to Stop Gov. Whitmer From Silencing Free Speech in Elections, Secretary of State Benson From Undermining Absentee Ballot Integrity

A coalition filed two lawsuits in Michigan on Monday, a federal case against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for allegedly silencing political speech, and a state suit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson for reportedly circumventing state law protecting the right of Michiganders to have their vote properly counted.

The lawsuits were announced on a new website launched by the coalition: Got Freedom? The website is available here.

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Commentary: Turn to the Founders to Remind Ourselves of What We Stand to Lose

Founding Fathers

In just about 70 days, you and I will be called upon to decide the fate of the American Republic. Make no mistake, this is no ordinary election. American voters have not faced such a momentous choice since an earlier generation was presented with the Constitution and called upon to decide its fate. The vote to ratify the Constitution established a new regime, the amazingly successful American Republic, which showed the world new possibilities for liberty and prosperity and set a standard still unmatched by any country in the history of the world.

A vote for the Democratic Party this time is a vote for regime change as surely as the original vote for the Constitution was a vote for regime change.

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Ohio Speaker Bob Cupp Faces First Test of Legislative Priority with Articles of Impeachment

Speaker of the House Bob Cupp (R-Lima) was voted into the Speaker role by the Republican Caucus.

The Speaker seat was open after former Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) was relieved of his role following an FBI criminal complaint.

Before Speaker Cupp ascended to the top role in the House, he had to battle Representative Jim Butler (R-Dayton) for the spot.

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Richmond Census Response Rate Lower than State and National Average as Count Deadline Looms

The city of Richmond’s 2020 census response rate is 59.3 percent, lower than the Virginia and national average, which could result in lost federal funding at state and local levels. 

The deadline for census counting is September 30th, moved up a month by President Trump, and Richmond is falling behind not just nationally, but also compared to the surrounding central-Virginia counties. 

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Aldi, Wegmans Among Grocery Stores Recalling Peaches Due to Possible Salmonella Contamination

Aldi, Wegmans, Kroger and Target stores are all recalling bagged and loose peaches from Wawona Packing Company out of an abundance of caution that those products may be contaminated Salmonella.

The peaches are being recalled after an investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looking into a salmonella outbreak. The California fruit packing company is suspected to be the source of the illness of over 60 people in nine states.

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Embattled State Senator Lucas and Daughter at the Center of Portsmouth Conflict

Portsmouth deputies served two misdemeanor charges against Portsmouth Vice-Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke in her office on Monday, according to reporting by WAVY.com.

The charges were filed at the Portsmouth Magistrate by resident Thomas Dubois. The charges are based on Portsmouth City Charter § 3.11, which states that city appointments and terminations must be handled through the city manager, and that violation is a class three misdemeanor.

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U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper Attacks Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s Integrity During Hearing Monday

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) on Monday heavily implied, without solid evidence, that U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is a criminal.

Cooper then asked DeJoy if he secretly hoped U.S. President Donald Trump would one day pardon him — as the president did for Roger Stone.

Cooper and DeJoy exchanged words as DeJoy testified before the House Oversight Committee.

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BREAKING: Ohio Lawmakers File Articles of Impeachment Against Governor Mike DeWine

On the morning of Monday August 24, members of the Ohio House of Representatives released the draft of their articles of impeachment exhibiting charges levied against Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R).

Representatives supporting the filing are John Becker (R-Union Township, Clermont County), Nino Vitale (R-Urbana), Candice Keller (R-Middletown), and Paul Zeltwanger (R-Mason).

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EXCLUSIVE: ‘I’m Not Intimidated by Graffiti Attack on Church Hosting Me Sunday,’ Roger Stone Says

The legendary Republican operative, targeted Saturday night by vicious graffiti spray painted all over the outside of the Mount Juliet’s Global Vision Bible Church, to The Tennessee Star he is not afraid to show up to speak at the church Sunday as invited.

“First of all, it’s disgusting,” said Roger J. Stone, who has been a friend and political advisor to President Donald J. Trump for more than three decades. “The idea of attacking a house of worship? But, if people thought this would intimidate me and I would not witness for Christ, they really just don’t understand.”

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Mt. Juliet Church Pastor Says Vandalism Likely Happened Because Roger Stone Will Speak There

Mt. Juliet’s Global Vision Bible Church was vandalized, possibly because Roger Stone is to speak on Sunday, Aug. 30, WSMV said.

Pastor Greg Locke on Sunday posted photos of the damage, available here. The church shared his post on its Facebook page, available here.

One graffiti tag read, “Locke & Stone will burn in h***.” Another tag read, “Fascists beware.”

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Commentary: The Ruling Class Is Selling Out America

by Angela Kelley   The ruling class is selling out America, and many of us either don’t want to hear about it or just don’t care. According to recently unearthed notes from a White House meeting shortly before inauguration day in January 2017, Vice President Joe Biden raised the idea of pursuing a Logan Act prosecution against Donald Trump’s designated national security advisor, Lt. General Michael Flynn. It was one of the many bogus charges that spurred three years of sham investigations against the Trump Administration. It was yet another example of the Obama Administration robbing the American people of their tax money while working to divide us along political lines. While the Trump Administration was being hammered with false accusations and threats of impeachment, somehow Biden’s misdeeds and the proof of illegal spying on an incoming administration took a backseat to the leaking and lying of the Democrat/RINO swamp. Even now, after more and more evidence is uncovered showing  top Obama Administration officials in the Justice Department and the FBI lied, leaked, and covered up their crimes, the media focus their collective attention on anything but the outrageous corruption of the former administration. Apparently, it’s old news and not worth talking about. Besides:…

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Trump Administration to Block Controversial Pebble Mine: REPORT

The Trump administration plans to block a proposed copper and gold mine near the headwaters of a major U.S. salmon fishery in Alaska, six people described as familiar with its plans told Politico on Saturday.

The administration’s rejection of the Pebble Mine project is expected to come after Trump faced pressure to stop it from GOP mega-donor Andy Sabin, Bass Pro Shops CEO Johnny Morris and the his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., Politico reported.

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Opioids, Violence and the Supreme Court Largely Omitted from DNC Convention Speeches

Democrats focused on coronavirus, climate change, racial inequality and more during their party’s convention, but none pf the keynote speakers mentioned rising violence in cities across the country or the opioid epidemic during the primetime program.

The two issues have been worsening in part due to nationwide unrest and the pandemic, media reports and studies say. The Supreme Court — a large focus of the 2016 election — was also largely ignored.

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Seattle Mayor to Veto City Council’s Cuts to Police, Budget

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said Friday she will veto City Council-approved proposals that would include reducing the police department by as many as 100 officers through layoffs and attrition.

The council’s proposals approved last week were supported by demonstrators who have marched in the city following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis but strongly opposed by the mayor and police Chief Carmen Best.

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Golden State Killer Joseph James DeAngelo Apologizes at Sentencing for Victimizing 87 People

Just before receiving multiple consecutive life sentences, Joseph James DeAngelo, the former California police officer who lived a double life as the murderous sociopath dubbed the Golden State Killer, broke his silence to tell a hushed courtroom filled with victims and their family members that he was “truly sorry” for the crimes.

It was such an unexpected moment that it brought gasps from those in the gallery, many of whom sat through an extraordinary four-day sentencing hearing filled with graphic and heart-wrenching testimony from dozens of victims. It also reinforced that nobody ever seemed to know what DeAngelo would do and who he was, which helps explain how he eluded detection for four decades while committing at least 13 killings and dozens of rapes.

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President Trump Announces Plasma Treatment Authorized for COVID-19

President Donald Trump announced Sunday the emergency authorization of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 patients, in a move he called “a breakthrough,” one of his top health officials called “promising,” and other health experts said needs more study before it’s celebrated.

The announcement comes after days of White House officials suggesting there were politically motivated delays by the Food and Drug Administration in approving a vaccine and therapeutics for the disease that has upended Trump’s reelection chances.

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FBI Agents Pushed for a FISA to Investigate Foreign Government Targeting Hillary Clinton

by Chuck Ross   FBI agents in 2015 sought authorization to surveil foreign government operatives who sought to influence Hillary Clinton, but ultimately settled for a defensive briefing given to lawyers for the Democratic presidential candidate, according to documents released on Sunday. One FBI agent involved in the investigation asked then-FBI Director James Comey in an April 2015 email for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant, according to the documents, published by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham. A FISA order was not granted in the investigation. Instead, an FBI special agent provided a defensive briefing to Clinton’s personal lawyers in October 2015. Graham, a Republican, said that the documents are evidence of a double standard in how the FBI conducted investigations of foreign meddling regarding the Clinton and Trump campaigns. The FBI obtained FISA orders against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page in October 2016 as part of its investigation into Russia’s meddling in the election. The FISA Court has been highly critical of the FBI over its surveillance of Page, citing numerous errors and omissions found in applications for the spy warrants. The FBI provided defensive briefings to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton regarding general foreign threats in August 2016.…

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Tennessee Will Provide an Extra $300 in Unemployment Benefits During Coronavirus Pandemic

Tennessee will provide an additional $300 per week in federal assistance to people who are unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced it has approved Tennessee’s request for a grant to give to people on top of their regular unemployment benefits. The Lost Wage Assistance grants have been awarded to nearly half of the states.

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Gov. Lee Signs Bill Making Illegal Camping a Felony

Tennessee protesters will face harsher penalties, including losing the right to vote, for breaking certain laws during demonstrations under a law enacted by Gov. Bill Lee.

The Republican governor quietly signed off on the bill Thursday. Lee has previously conceded there were portions of the bill he “would have done differently” but ultimately agreed to make the proposal law effective immediately with his signature.

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Churches Sue Governor Walz, State Attorney General and County Attorneys for Violating Religious Liberties

Three churches are suing the governor and his constituents for executive orders that violate their religious liberties. Defendants in the case are Governor Tim Walz, State Attorney General Keith Ellison, and county attorneys Chad Larson, Tom Kelly, and Donald Ryan. The Thomas More Society filed on behalf of the churches.

The lawsuit cites Article I, Section 16 of Minnesota’s Constitution as state precedent protecting the right to worship: “the right of every man to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience shall never be infringed.” The lawsuit also cites Christian adherence to the Bible’s commandment for believers to worship together.

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Trump’s Sunday Presser Forces Hand of Ohio’s Dept of Health and Governor DeWine

President Donald J. Trump announced the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for convalescent plasma as a therapeutic treatment in COVID patients Sunday.

Convalescent plasma is the liquid part of the blood that contains COVID antibodies. Convalescent plasma given to COVID patients during research conducted since April by the Mayo Clinic has resulted in a 35% decrease in the incidence of death in the patients receiving the plasma, according to FDA Director Stephen Hahn.

The announcement is significant in Ohio where Republican Governor Mike DeWine has hinted for months at his hesitation to allow Ohioans to return to normal life until there is a vaccine.

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BOOK REVIEW: Author Jerry Kammer Exposes the Left-Right Coalition to Undermine Immigration Reform

The Democrats’ 2020 choice for vice-president of the United States is Kamala Harris, a U.S. senator from California who has compared our courageous, underpaid, overworked, and often Latino, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the Ku Klux Klan. How did we get here exactly?

Let us look back and examine how immigration enforcement has been undermined for decades and then discuss what it means for the 2020 presidential election.

The Sunlight Foundation reports that between 2007 and 2012, 678 lobbying groups – including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Nursery and Landscape Association, the dairy industry, agribusiness, high-tech companies, major universities, the ACLU, the Service Employees International Union, the National Council of La Raza (now UnidosUS), and many other lobbyists – spent $1.5 billion to influence immigration policy. 

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Commentary: Two Miles from North America’s Oldest Elected Body, a Richmond Neighborhood Cowers in Fear

It’s two miles or so down Monument Avenue from the Virginia State Capitol building in Richmond to the Robert E. Lee Memorial.

The capitol houses the oldest legislative body in North America – the Virginia General Assembly, which dates to 1619 when the Virginia Company, the private firm that controlled the state, appointed a governor and Council of State to rule along with 22 elected burgesses.

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Amid a Crowded Field, Democrat Terry McAuliffe Moves to Run for Governor Again in 2021

Former Governor Terry McAuliffe filed paperwork to run for governor in 2021, joining field of four other Democrats and another four Republicans who have filed or declared serious interest in running in the 2021 primary.

Strategist and Democratic political pundit Ben Tribbett told The Virginia Star that filing to run is not the same as an official declaration as Virginia does not allow exploratory committees.

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Michigan State University Flip-Flops on In-Person Classes Two Weeks Before Semester Begins

Michigan State University (MSU), two weeks prior to the institution’s fall start date, announced on Tuesday that in-person learning has been cancelled for undergraduates and that students planning to live on campus may have to stay home.

“But given the current status of the virus in our country — particularly what we are seeing at other institutions as they re-populate their campus communities — it has become evident to me that, despite our best efforts and strong planning, it is unlikely we can prevent widespread transmission of COVID-19 between students if our undergraduates return to campus,” MSU president Samuel Stanley said in the announcement.

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Severity of COVID-19 Impact at Richmond Colleges Unclear as University of Richmond Classes Resume Monday

As Richmond area colleges start the fall semester, the impact from COVID-19 exposure and cases remains unclear.

Both Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and the University of Richmond (UR) have implemented new policy and procedures which students, faculty and employees must strictly adhere to.

VCU residential students must complete a daily health survey and there are normal COVID-19 policies such as wearing a mask, social distancing as well as cleaning and disinfecting shared spaces.

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Tennessee Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate Marquita Bradshaw Tells Socialists She Can Get Republican Votes

Tennessee U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Marquita Bradshaw late last week thanked the Democratic Socialists of America for helping her campaign, and she also said she can get Republicans to vote for her.

Bradshaw said this during an online conversation with DSA members nationwide. DSA Los Angeles officials posted the video on their YouTube channel.

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Commentary: Kamala Harris Won’t Motivate Minority Voters

Now that the Democrats have finally finished inflicting their excruciating “virtual convention” on us, it’s useful to consider what they inadvertently revealed about their biggest worry as the November election looms. Nowhere was that angst more obvious than in Wednesday’s soporific speech by Kamala Harris accepting the party’s vice presidential nomination. She began by invoking 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, failing to mention that it was passed and shepherded through the ratification process by the Republican Party, then segued to a desperate plea: “It’s not about Joe or me.… It’s about you … and getting out the vote.” Translation: “The Biden presidential campaign suffers from a deadly enthusiasm deficit.”

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Commentary: The Practice of Schools Using Empty Classes for Expensive Day Care, and Charging Parents Twice Needs to End

Normally when a business shuts its doors, it doesn’t still get to charge its customers for a product they can no longer access. It certainly doesn’t get to charge its customers twice for the privilege.

Yet, that’s exactly what we’re seeing from some public school districts. They refuse to open their doors for in-person learning—citing safety risks—but they are able to open these same school buildings to charge overworked and tired parents for day care. 

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Police Officers Were Compared to Slave Owners and KKK Members in an Assignment Given at a Texas School

An assignment given to students at a Texas school included a political cartoon comparing police officers to slave owners and Klu Klux Klan members, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

The cartoon reportedly depicted five scenes, allegedly starting with a slave ship officer who was kneeling on a black man’s neck and ended with a police officer kneeling on a black man’s neck with text saying “I can’t breathe,” the Star-tribune reported.

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Feds Charge Former Green Beret with Espionage with Russia

A former Army Green Beret living in northern Virginia was arrested on Friday, charged with divulging military secrets about his unit’s activities in former Soviet republics during more than a decade of contacts with Russian intelligence.

Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, told Russian intelligence he considered himself a “son of Russia,” according to an indictment made public after his arrest.

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The U.S. National Debt Has Exceeded the Total Value of the GDP

The U.S. national debt now exceeds the size of America’s total gross domestic product and the milestone may have been met as early as June, according to a Friday New York Times report.

America’s federal debt stands at around $26.6 trillion — an approximate $7 trillion increase since 2016, according to fiscal data from the Treasury Department. Total U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) was just over $19.4 trillion at the end of June, according to a July 30 release from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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California Wildfires Some of Largest in State History

Lightning-sparked wildfires in Northern California exploded in size Friday to become some of the largest in state history, forcing thousands to flee and destroying hundreds of homes and other structures as reinforcements began arriving to help weary firefighters.

More than 12,000 firefighters aided by helicopters and air tankers are battling wildfires throughout California. Three groups of fires, called complexes, burning north, east and south of San Francisco have together scorched 991 square miles (2,566 square kilometers), destroyed more than 500 structures and killed five people.

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Two Colleges Suspend Students for Gatherings That Broke Coronavirus Restrictions

Syracuse University and Purdue University have suspended dozens of students for attending gatherings that violated coronavirus restrictions before classes have begun, the schools announced this week.

Both universities had policies and pledges implemented in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19, including face mask wearing, social distancing guidelines and restrictions on event sizes, according to statements from the schools.

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Border Agents Arrest Two Illegal Immigrants Traveling with $16,000 Cash, Guns and Ammo

A makeshift wooden vessel carrying two men from the Dominican Republic was spotted and intercepted three miles off the coast of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents Thursday morning.

The men were traveling in a “yola” type vessel with a “significant amount of weapons and ammo,” a CBP spokesman told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Two men were arrested and the vessel was seized.

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Jack Dorsey Donates $10 Million to a Group Headed by an Activist Who Wants to Make Racism Unconstitutional

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced Thursday his decision to gave a no-strings-attached $10 million donation to an anti-racist group headed by an activist who once promoted the idea of amending the U.S. Constitution to prohibit racism.

The tech billionaire gave the money to Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research, a project launched by scholar Ibram X. Kendi, who expressed support in 2019 for a constitutional amendment that he claims would “fix the original sin of racism.” Dorsey said in a tweet Thursday that he is grateful for Kendi’s work.

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